2005 – Page 51

According to the Presidents of the Association for the Tourist Development of Juan Dolio and Guayacanes and the Association of Hotels of the Eastern Region of the DR, Radhames Martinez Aponte and Ernesto Veloz, respectively, the hotel sector cannot continue to operate with a foreign exchange rate of RD$33 to US$1. Listin Diario reports they …

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Fifty-six persons who were lost at sea after trying to reach Puerto Rico on a boat 18 days ago (see DR1 Daily News 18 October 2005) have been officially declared missing by the authorities after intensive sea and air searches yielded no results, according to the Civil Defense Director in Nagua, Minerva Santos. El Caribe …

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The import of birds from countries or areas affected by avian influenza (bird flu) has been prohibited by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Stockbreeding Department. A public announcement by Minister Amilcar Romero and Director Angel R. Faxas indicates that the disease does not exist nor has it ever existed in the DR. The prohibition …

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Hundreds of passengers were stranded in Dominican airports due to the cancellation of commercial flights caused by the passing of Hurricane Wilma through southern Florida. Four American Airlines flights from Las Americas Airport to Miami were cancelled as were two Cubana de Aviacion flights to Havana and two Acerca flights to Colombia and Venezuela.  

The quick arrival of Tropical Storm Alpha crossed Dominican territory over the weekend leaving three missing, one reported injured, and several thousand refugees. The tropical storm was named Alpha because this has become the most active storm season on record, with over 23 named storms, and the United States National Weather Bureau ran out of …

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One of the key figures in the RENOVE corruption case, Sam Goodson, a.k.a. Shlomo Ben-Tov, will be extradited back to the Dominican Republic to stand trial for his part in the RD$1.8 billion scandal. Readers may remember that last spring Goodson left the Dominican Republic as the magistrate was still reading his decision to send …

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During a speech celebrating the 58th anniversary of the Central Bank, Hector Valdez Albizu revealed that the Dominican economy had grown by 10.3% during the third quarter and brought the overall average GDP growth for the first three quarters to 7.3%. Central Bank governor Valdez Albizu said that the nation’s GDP should show a 7% …

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Presidential Palace press director Rafael Nunez has told reporters that the government’s economic team headed by Temistocles Montas is continuing its work to lighten the Dominican Republic’s debt load. The government said that the Paris Club had “forgiven” US$137 million of the debt carried with the Paris Club group of nations. This brings the debt …

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The exchange market for hard currencies and Dominican pesos has handled over US$61 billion over the past 14 years. This money has been exchanged by commercial banks and money exchange houses all over the country. Part of the whole process was the legalization of exchange houses that before 1997 were considered to be a parallel …

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Bishop Timothy Broglio, the Papal Nuncio to the Dominican Republic, called the false birth certificates facilitated by a Haitian priest in Mao, Valverde, “dishonest and immoral”. At the same time, Bishop Tomas Abreu Herrera, the head of the Mao-Montecristi dioceses, justified the work Vigny Bellerive carried out 18 years ago as being “charitable”. Broglio said …

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